Some of My Best Friends Are Catholic

by Juliette Akinyi Ochieng | October 31st, 2017

Some of My Best Friends Are Catholic

by baldilocks

Many of my Face­book friends – most of whom are con­ser­v­a­tives — are argu­ing about con­tro­ver­sies of recent vin­tage and of this par­tic­u­lar day: whether or not to con­tinue watch­ing the NFL, whether Chris­tians should allow their chil­dren to take part in Hal­loween fes­tiv­i­ties or par­tic­i­pate in those fes­tiv­i­ties them­selves. I find it amus­ing, as I do with most purse fights.

But today is also another anniver­sary: the 500th anniver­sary of the day on which Mar­tin Luther nailed his 95 the­ses to the door of the Wit­ten­berg Cas­tle Church in Wit­ten­berg, Ger­many, sig­nal­ing, in hind­sight, the Protes­tant Ref­or­ma­tion. I put up a short sta­tus not­ing the occa­sion and received not one bit of blow­back from my Catholic friends like Fausta or our host! Not one bit of purse fight. I’m almost disappointed!

Seri­ously, I love that not­ing this event in 2017 is almost mun­dane, espe­cially since the split between the two parts of Chris­tian­ity gen­er­ated lots of blood­shed all those cen­turies ago and did so for some time in the pre­vi­ous century.

The evo­lu­tion of this rela­tion­ship between Catholics and Protes­tants was exem­pli­fied by the fact that, when my great-​aunt was alive, I would drop her off for Mass at St. Brigid Catholic Church in South Cen­tral LA, con­tinue on to my Protes­tant non-​denominational church in Glen­dale, then, when my church’s ser­vice was over, come back to retrieve her.

Hav­ing read a lot about the­ol­ogy and church his­tory, one over­ar­ch­ing theme seems inescapable to me – every church denom­i­na­tion is capa­ble of falling into error, divi­sion and even vio­lence because we for­get these things: that God believes in free­dom and that our pri­mary com­mand­ments are to love Him and each other. I, for one, don’t want to forget.

God bless the peace between His chil­dren and Happy Ref­or­ma­tion Day …

And thank you, my Catholic friends, for the love and for the reconciliation.

Pleasecon­tribute to Juliette’s JOB: Her new novel, her blog, her Inter­netto keep the lat­ter going and COF­FEE to keepher going!

Or hit Da Tech Guy’s Tip Jar in the name of Inde­pen­dent Journalism!

by baldilocks

Many of my Facebook friends – most of whom are conservatives — are arguing about controversies of recent vintage and of this particular day: whether or not to continue watching the NFL, whether Christians should allow their children to take part in Halloween festivities or participate in those festivities themselves. I find it amusing, as I do with most purse fights.

But today is also another anniversary: the 500th anniversary of the day on which Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, signaling, in hindsight, the Protestant Reformation. I put up a short status noting the occasion and received not one bit of blowback from my Catholic friends like Fausta or our host! Not one bit of purse fight. I’m almost disappointed!

Seriously, I love that noting this event in 2017 is almost mundane, especially since the split between the two parts of Christianity generated lots of bloodshed all those centuries ago and did so for some time in the previous century.

The evolution of this relationship between Catholics and Protestants was exemplified by the fact that, when my great-aunt was alive, I would drop her off for Mass at St. Brigid Catholic Church in South Central LA, continue on to my Protestant non-denominational church in Glendale, then, when my church’s service was over, come back to retrieve her.

Having read a lot about theology and church history, one overarching theme seems inescapable to me – every church denomination is capable of falling into error, division and even violence because we forget these things: that God believes in freedom and that our primary commandments are to love Him and each other. I, for one, don’t want to forget.

God bless the peace between His children and Happy Reformation Day …

And thank you, my Catholic friends, for the love and for the reconciliation.

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